Espressif New Board

Well we know that the ESP8266 replacement will have Bluetooth low energy, a different architecture and more RAM – something to look forward to – so now here’s a sneak preview – this is not the latest PCB but it’s better than nothing I’m sure you’ll agree.

So we’re looking at something with a few more pins than we’re used to and very little else – I’m seeing a crystal – I’m not seeing EXTERNAL flash or RAM here so one can only assume that it is internal this time? I’m looking forward to seeing more of the new wireless SoC with two Tensilica L108 cores and called ESP32. So, faster WIFI, Bluetooth, dual core, low power improvements, more peripherals, more RAM, better security and simplified APIs and approaching 40 I/O lines (though I’m only seeing 37 actual edge connections in total on that board) - what more could you want.

Do you know more? If so – spill the beans!!! Unlike some posts I’ve seen this is not a random image – it was supplied to me by Espressif themselves for your entertainment! Oh – here’s a link with some useful info… http://esp32.com/ also a contribution by reader Rudi here - http://esp32.de/#rev2

It is quite possible that the 8th pin is the ground fill with a piece of solder mask removed. Nevertheless, it doe not look like the best engineering practice as some proper thermal relief should be considered a rule of thumb.

That I don't know. No doubt I'll have more info soon, this was sent to me by the CEO of Espressif and I'm sure there will be more. I'll be sure to publish as and when - indeed if any readers gain more info I'd appreciate feedback so we can build up a better picture of the new product here. Meanwhile I've no intention of dropping everything for this - my months in Spain with DIRE wifi issues and power cuts have led me to have a great deal of trust in the likes of the ESP-12 boards.

Weird board (1.27mm / 0.05" pitch) if you consider that most users won't be able to solder this thing onto some PCB, or at least have trouble avoiding shorts while soldering!

On the other hand this board finally has sufficient I/O to function as the CPU for some sensor board. The current ESP12E is not very well suited for that I discovered compared to the good old Arduino or cheap STM32 board.

I hope the hardware documentation is indeed published next week, so I can start designing new boards.

I assume that if you know something it will magically turn up on your blog 😉

The thing about boards and layouts (I personally think the ESP-12 (and variants) is the best of the lot - it is DIRT cheap and maximises the number of IO lines) - there was a time when PCBs were very expensive - but today - I could not tell you the last time I did breadboarding - $14 all inc shipping for 10 boards and there are a ton of PCB design packages out there for free... and also many of the cheap PCB manufacturers keep a cache of board layouts. When the ESP-01 came out we immediately had a batch of small boards made with the pullups and regulator on-board along with a 0.1" connector for an FDTI serial adaptor - in fact we put that on all our boards (when I say we, my friend Aidan and I tend to work on boards together). I long since gave up on Arduinos - though the Arduino environment for ESP8266 is welcome as many of the libraries for Arduino can be re-used. Well, that's my take anyway 🙂

The ESP8266 seemed like a joke to many, just a little more than a year ago, but it has proven to be a great little performer, and incredible value at just US$ 3. I agree with you Pete that the ESP-12 is the the most useful implementation for most applications.

Now that we finally have some respect for Espressif, I too am looking forward to see where they're going with the ESP-32.

The ESP32 is not a replacement for the ESP8266. It is built for other use case scenarios. The ESP8266's format is perfect still for many many IoT projects, and comes in a smaller format, uses less resources, and costs less. Of course, we can do all that ESP8266 does, but at an increased cost, not to mention overkill in processing power and electronics. I can get a lot done with an ESP-01 if I craft my projects carefully and with purpose.

Erm, did someone suggest the ESP32 was a replacement? It is merely the next development from Espressif. It should not cost much more than the ESP8266 though I've not seen any pricing yet and they are all out of test copies. I managed to get one - as for overkill - who cares as long as that does not result in more power being used. My understanding is that LESS power will be needed. The ESP-01 is a fine unit but beware if you want to get into OTA then the memory limit could be a challenge as for OTA you're reduced to under half of the total available. Amazingly the ESP12-F etc don't cost any more than the ESP-01 and of course don't use any more power as they use the same bits... so really the only reason to use an ESP-01 is if you happen to have lots of them - or the 0.1" pins is an advantage (and indeed in many cases it will be).

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